The Impact of Culture on Best Practice Production Management - Essay Example

? In the face of intense competition and globalization, organisations realize that to remain competitive it is essential to deliver consistently superior service quality. This can lead to many benefits such as time saving, cost reducing, increased market share and profits (Chen, Chang, Hsu & Yang, 2011). Services industry is the fastest growing segment in the world economy and the biggest challenge is customer satisfaction which depends upon service quality (Bick, Abratt & Moller, 2010). Customer service excellence becomes essential to achieve customer satisfaction which in turn translates into customer loyalty. Organisations are convinced that customer service delivers benefits and hence quality management programmes have been created that relate the service attributes to how customers would evaluate quality (Bolton & Drew, 1991). This implies that people skills are essential for personal and organisational success. Customer service excellence is based on customer insight, segmentation and leadership (CSE, n.d.). Segmentation helps to understand the needs of the customers which differ across cultures. Segmentation is implemented through the process of identifying and differentiating between groups that have similar needs or wants. By focusing on their needs, motivation and choices, the organisation can achieve customer service excellence as they realize that one-size-fit-all approach in not applicable in the service industry. Customer service excellence operates at three distinct levels – as a driver of continuous improvement, as a skills development tool and as an independent validation of achievement. Culture, according to Hofstede, “is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category from another” (Hope & Muhlemann, 2001). It has also been defined as the “software of the mind...” and culture is the way that a group of people solve problems and reconcile dilemmas (Lorenzoni & Lewis, 2004). Moreover, customers from different backgrounds also have differing levels of literacy which influences the evaluation of performance standards (Pizam & Eliss, 1999).Cultural difference cause differences in expectations, goals, values and proposed course of action. Cultural differences impact the belongingness, love and esteem needs of individuals and these principles reverse the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. Subtle cultural differences cannot be ignored as the direct impact can be observed in decisions, outcomes and delivery of service (Korac-Kakabadse & Kouzmin, 1999). To achieve service excellence organisations would have to ensure that employees are adequately trained in the different elements of culture that manifest in many ways. Manifestation of cultural differences can be found in language and communication styles, in expression of emotions and body language, in social customs and eating habits. The deepest and the most ingrained manifestation of culture is the cultural assumptions from which stem the norms and values (Lorenzoni & Lewis, 2004). The most visible manifestation of culture is everyday behavioural standards. Hofstede has identified four different dimensions on which culture can be measured. These include the power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity. Cultures distinguish people in how they behave, maintain relationships and relate to each other in a variety of ways. It also influences the attitude towards time and the attitude towards the environment. All these factors heighten the importance of ensuring that employees are trained in understanding the nuances of different cultural backgrounds before customer service excellence can be expected. The hospitality industry is diverse in nature and each customer is individual in his/her needs and wants. The same customer may have different needs and demands in different situations (Baum & Nickson, 1998). Cultural differences impact the outcome of business because according to Hofstede different cultures imply different mental programming (Gilbert & Tsao, 2000). While the Ritz Carton, USA received the Malcolm Bridge Award for service excellence, they encountered problems in Hong Kong. The authors cite cultural difference as the main cause. Even though the approach was considered the best approach for the US cultural environment, the Hong Kong environment prohibited working closely with each other from sharing information. This conforms to Hofstede’s weak versus strong uncertainty avoidance culture that prevails in the Hong Kong society where ‘knowledge is power’. With such cultural difference across nations organisations cannot deliver service excellence and the norms have to pertain to the given cultural environment. Culture even influences the choice of room layout and hence The Hyatt International Hotel Group uses the familiar cultural framework to plan and provide service excellence to all its customers. The layout of the bathrooms in Japan reflects the Japanese style in all of the Group’s hotels (Hope & Muhlemann, 2001). Not only has the room layouts, even the customer interaction been paid attention to. Hence the senior management team represents eight different cultures which enable them to evaluate and incorporate the national culture right from the planning stage. Service is defined by the customer contact experience, believe McLaughlin & Fitzsimmons, (1996) and hence translating the required human behaviour of service personnel across national boundaries becomes a challenge. Even the incentive packages differ across employees who hail from distinctly different cultures. This is because the Hyatt Group realizes that when the internal customers are satisfied they would be able to deliver the service excellence that the group is committed to. The culture in which one is merged since birth has a much stronger effect than the organisational culture. This was revealed during a study of hotel managers from Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. Significant differences were found in the managerial practices used in these three nations and these can be related to the four dimensions of culture identified by Hofstede. The front line staff interact the most with direct customers and hence to impart service excellence these front line staff have to be culturally adapted. Thus, the developed nations such as Australia, Europe and North America employ a high level immigrant labour in their front office positions. People from diverse cultures are entrusted with the authority to work autonomously. The national culture loses its significance and it becomes very difficult to incentives and motivations to people from diverse cultures to get the best out of them (Baum & Nickson). Thus, for service excellence it would becomes essential to know and understand the requirement of each individual staff as they are also internal customers. Moreover, satisfied internal customers translate into satisfied external customers. Hence to achieve customer service excellence, employee training has been found to lead to prosocial behaviour and this is important in the services industry because employees are the customer-contact point (Chebat, Babin & Kollias, 2002). Customer service excellence which can lead to a culture of loyalty has to be constructed on a solid foundation of four or five constantly reinforced core organisational values. These have to be well communicated to the people who interact and deal with customers. Banks send people for training but this does not result in customer service excellence (Dalton, 2002). Two-hour training sessions cannot instill a culture of loyalty. It has to be an all-encompassing approach where people know how to smile and be friendly but then training is only a small part of the entire process. Executing customer service excellence requires consistency. Each bank may have its own definition of service culture and hence depending upon the image it wants to project, it would develop its principles in delivery service excellence. If the bank wants a ‘friendly’ service culture it must define what the core values look, sound and feel like. The front line people in the bank interact with the customers the most and hence they are best positioned to guide the management on what should be the core values of the friendly culture. However, these employees are never consulted on what would satisfy the customers. The officers dealing with the customers are just handed down some instruction on how to deal with the customers which can be frustrating for the workers. The difference in service delivery between the private and the public banks is well known. Services at private sector banks are far superior to those at the public sector banks (Kangis & Voukelayos, 1997). Perception of service quality also differs across developed and developing nations as these are to a large extent based on cultural and social factors. The perception of Greek banking customers is higher than those of the Bulgarian banking customers. The Indian banks deliver poor quality service than the foreign banks, Bangladesh bank customers would value customer service based on the personal attention they received followed by error-free records and safety of transactions (Bick, Abratt & Moller, 2010). Thus banks have to ensure that they meet the needs of the different education and income level groups as expectations differ which is also influenced by culture. To control their liability and to improve their bottom line customer service excellence becomes a strategic imperative for the physician practices and hospitals (Anonymous, 2005). Hospitals must implement an organized, visible customer service program throughout the organisation and the momentum should be maintained through consistent maintenance efforts. The staff has to be trained to deal with patients from diverse backgrounds and with diverse mood situations. In the case of hospitals perception of service quality is important to attract repeat customers. Perceptions may vary across nations and cultures and hence the service quality measures should be relevant to the country or culture where the service is offered (Bick, Abratt & Moller, 2010). How customers experience the service also depends upon their values and beliefs and this differs across cultures. For instance, the UK consumers give important to security while the US consumers prefer reliability over security dimensions. The service delivery may have to change if customer service excellence has to be achieved. Perception of customers with regard to service is bound to differ as perception is based on culture, values, beliefs and assumptions. This is applicable even in the healthcare sector. Organisations in this sector try to narrow the gap between customer expectations and what they can deliver because they understand that customer expectations too are based on cultural beliefs and assumptions. Staying close to the customers, learning their preferences and understanding their needs helps differentiate the “excellent” companies from those that are not. Businesses exist to serve the customers and hence a customer-focused approach is paramount to achieving excellence. In the healthcare particularly, the customers or the patients would expect prompt service delivery especially in case of emergencies and when this is not available to them they would classify that organisation as ineffective. They are concerned about the time taken in service delivery. Service gap influences the satisfaction levels among customers which in turn impacts loyalty. Empathy and communication are necessary in the healthcare but the staff needs to be trained on how different cultures would expect empathy. Certain body languages may be misinterpreted in certain cultures because non-verbal cues are processed differently in different cultures (Yammiyavar, Clemmensen & Kumar, 2008). Clients from different cultures would express their distress in different manner but this should not be interpreted as a psychological problem in the customer (Moodley, 2007). In the case of counselling too, body language is a crucial communication tool. Such communication does not just support but at times, even displaces verbal communication (Sielski, 1979). Counsellors must have a thorough understanding of the body language applicable to different cultures. Body language has significant perception on people even before we speak. Multi-cultural awareness is essential to deliver excellent customer service in the field of counselling. Such awareness is a cognitive and affective process that leads to a positive attitude towards cultural differences (Collins & Pieterse, 2007). Training in multicultural settings thus becomes essential. Culture is an important variable that could impact the outcome in healthcare setting as well as in counselling. For instance, lack of eye contact in one culture (usually western cultures) could mean lack of interest but in another culture (usually Eastern cultures) it could mean embarrassment (Gabbot & Hogg, 2000). Mistakes are bound to happen and hence expectation of “zero defect” is not a viable proposition but service providers are attempting to provide the maximum level of service quality to the customers with the ultimate objective of satisfying and retaining customers (Lorenzoni & Lewis, 2004). Service failure can occur but the process of service recovery can lead to customer service excellence but that would depend on how the recovery process takes place. This depends upon the degree of empowerment and what the individual believes is the best way to solve the situation. Thus, a study in the airline industry was conducted where the attitude and responses of the personnel from two different airlines was conducted. The personnel came from entirely different cultural backgrounds. There is a high level of service interaction between the customer and the airline and hence critical incidents are quite common. The employees of the airline have to offer physical service at various points to the customer right from the time of entering the airport. At all these points satisfactory or dissatisfactory service encounter can occur. To minimise such incidences an understanding of the different cultural norms, values and beliefs would help the employees to provide better service. In a study of airlines personnel from two different countries measuring differently on the cultural dimensions of Hofstede, it was found that training could help reduce the difference in their attitude and service delivery (Lorenzoni & Lewis, 2004). Training and customer awareness programme involving employees at all levels was carried out. This gives confidence to the employees that the company is structured to satisfy customer requirements. To understand the customer and participate enthusiastically in service delivery requires training and development. Both employees and customers can be from diverse cultural backgrounds. This study revealed that people from Italy always refer to their superiors for guidance. This is because Italy has high power distance while employees from Britain relied on themselves or their colleagues to find solutions to problems and situations (Lorenzoni & Lewis, 2004). Italians being a collectivist society have concerns for others’ emotions and hence they are more flexible in handling compassionate cases than the British employees. Thus it can be concluded that customer service excellence can be achieved when attention is paid to detail and to the entire service delivery process. It has to be a holistic approach where training is absolutely essential. In any service industry customer interaction process determines the satisfaction levels. Thus training should be an on-going process where local culture, their norms, values and assumptions have to be understood. Employees need to be trained to recognize and learn to respond in the different ways as desired by the customers. Moreover, training would have to differ across cultures because employees from diverse backgrounds would perceive the process in their own way. Even the training system may have to be developed according to their cultural context. Segmentation of the customer as per their needs and wants would make the service delivery process easier because a set of service delivery personnel could be allotted to that particular segment. Managing customer expectations in any service industry is crucial. In the banking sector too, the bank may be a global bank dealing with customers from diverse cultural backgrounds, employing people from different culture. To minimize the gap between the customer expectation and service delivery, the gaps would have to be eliminated through cross-cultural training and appropriate people management techniques. Reflective journal This has been an interesting journey understanding how culture impacts the business operations. I had been finding difference in interacting with people from different cultures but I did not give it importance. I just accepted that we are different but learning how important it is to cope with the cultures has been an eye-opener. How banks need to train their employees and how the hotels need to understand the cultural assumptions is interesting. I do remember walking in to a bank once and I happened to witness how the employee was struggling to get his message across to the angry customer. I did know that they came from different countries but I did not attach importance to the different cultures. Now I realize that had the employees been given training in understand the customers from different backgrounds, this incidence could have been avoided. Also, segmentation of customers would ensure that the right employees are given the responsibility of a particular segment. Being a frequent traveler I used to be amazed at how the airline staff copes with passengers from so many different cultures and backgrounds, and still achieve customer satisfaction. I now understand that they have been provided extensive training in understanding the behaviour and attitude of the customers. Understanding the body language of so many different cultures can be quite a task but then to achieve service excellence and to stay ahead of competition, organisations have been following this practice. References Anonymous. (2005) 'Transform your organization into a five-star service provider'. Health Care Strategic Management, 23 (12), pp. 11 Baum, T., & Nickson, D. (1998) 'Teaching human resource management in hospitality and tourism: a critique'. 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